Sprint Pitches Local FM Radio as the Next Phone Feature

Sprint today announced that it has negotiated local FM radio access for its customers with American radio stations. Using an application called NextRadio, Android and Windows Phone smartphones will be able to access local FM radio over the air rather than stream it from Sprint's network. The NextRadio application, which acts as a tuner and will be available later this year, "combines the FM radio audio signal with synchronized metadata and images over the internet." In addition to being able to listen to their local stations, Sprint says the NextRadio app will allow for greater levels of interaction between listeners and their favorite radio stations. Sprint has not said which devices will first be able to access this feature, nor exactly when it will be available.